Selangor Opposition Leader [and president of Umno's Bad Loser Club] Dr Mohd Khir Toyo today claimed that he had in his possession a copy of a letter from Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s office ‘instructing’ the purchase of 46 cattle to be distributed in Bandar Tun Razak last December during Hari Raya Korban.

Revealing this at a press conference in Shah Alam, the former menteri besar also said he was "disappointed with Khalid for having no knowledge of the cattle distribution to the constituency and denying giving out instructions" to pay for the cattle worth RM110,400.

Ravi Panicker: Well done, Mohd Khir Toyo! You have found evidence that the Selangor MB used state funds for purchase of cattle for Hari Raya Korban for the common rakyat. Where does it itch for you? After all, he has the authority to do welfare services as he deems fit.

How many times in 50 years did your BN government do the same thing.

Khalid did not swallow the entire money. He used it for a just cause in the spirit of Hari Raya Korban. That is part of his duty.

Are you angry that the 20% commission for the purchase of the cows did not come to you?

And pray tell, where did the money you BN people dished out for the Kuala Terengannu by- election come from?

People in glass houses should not throw stones. The whole federal government is corrupt. As the rakyat, we have no objection to what Khalid has done. He did not use the money for himself.

Mohd Khir Toyo, try your luck at the next GE. Believe me, you will fail again. Let Pakatan run their five states without your vested interventions.

CH Siew: First someone accuses our Selangor MB of corruption because he bought some cattle for the people. Now Khir Toyo claims that he has evidence of the purchase. The question is: where is the corruption?

Did the MB ask all those who benefitted from the meat for anything in return? Did he ask them for favours?

Did he pocket any some amount of the money used for the purchase? Is there even proof that an exchange amounting to corruption had taken place?

Already, the reputation of Khir Toyo is beyond redemption. The saga on MP Teresa Kok already shows how much integrity Mohd Khir has.

To think that anything out from his mouth is worth listening to is like believing that BN is not corrupted.

When Mohd Khir come into the picture, it was very clear to the rakyat how incredible this accusation is.

These kind of people are doing more harm than good for Malaysia and I feel very sad that the progress of Malaysia continues to be hindered by people like Mohd Khir Toyo.

Wu: A new low for Umno and Mohd Khir Toyo?

Imagine manipulating an issue of donations for religious event for one’s own political agenda! How low can they stoop? Any wonder why they are losing elections?

Whether or not Khalid used state funds and whether it is right if he did, is another issue for another time.

Hey, Botox face! Time to moooooove on!

Will Umno's Bad Loser Club be wallowing in more hogwash at the start of the Pig Year?

Or will they be reduced to a pile of stale dogshit by then?

WISHING UMNO'S BAD LOSER CLUB A THOROUGHLY SHITTY LUNAR YEAR OF THE BULL... AND ALL DECENT FOLKS A FERTILE, PRODUCTIVE & MOO-MENTOUS REGIME CHANGE!

Also present was a group of MIC Youth members led by its head T Mohan. Hindraf representative, led by S Jayathas, were also there.

Some 80 people had also gathered at the police station to show their anger over Kugan's death.

They held up banners with pictures of the deceased, showing the injuries he sustained while in police custody.

Some of the banners read: "Police are licensed killers", "Police are killing Indians" and "Police are thirsty for Indian blood" in both Malay and English. They also briefly chanted slogans demanding a probe into Kugan's death.
Heavy police presence

Talking to reporters later, Kugan's family members said that the deceased did not suffer from asthma and could not have died from breathing difficulties as claimed by the police.

Manikavasagam and Gobind added that the police were attempting to cover up the death and that there should be a full and open investigation by the Home Ministry, which oversees the police department.

Manikavasagam also said that he would organise rallies to protest against the police.

The crowd then dispersed peacefully after gathering for about 30 minutes.

There was a heavy police presence outside of the station while the police report was being lodged.

[Note from Suzanne Ward: Monday afternoon when I tried to distribute the following brief message that Matthew wanted to go out on the 19th, I discovered that my ISP was nonoperational. Jean Hudon, Earth Rainbow Network, let me read it to him and he included it in his message specifically for the inauguration.]

This is Matthew, with greetings of love and rejoicing at the momentous event for your world, the inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States. We ask that you fill your hearts with love and gratitude and direct those feelings to him and his family and to the individuals who will assist and advise him. The outpouring of those kinds of energy streamers is like a blanket of golden filaments surrounding your world. By sending that energy to the Obama family and the new administration, you are radiating light to guide, protect and contribute to their success in governing wisely and honorably; and the light in their efforts beams out to the world, thus benefiting all souls and Mother Earth herself.

Although inauguration day is a specific date in linear time, in a universal context it is a major part of the master plan devised by the spiritual hierarchy in conjunction with physical civilizations in the timelessness of the continuum. Obama’s willingness to come from a spiritually and intellectually highly evolved civilization to take on the primary leadership role in your world is part of that plan, which all of you knew and agreed to prior to your birth. The soaring hope of peoples around the world when he was elected has grown exponentially, and Mother Earth herself is feeling uplifted by the surge of harmonic waves from her residents and from all light beings throughout the universe.

The first day of new presidential leadership is an event of paramount importance in a series of on-target powerful developments in the plan’s goal of spiritual renewal and reformation in your physical world, but in the continuum, its success already has been achieved! [Note: The November 21, 2008 message in “Matthew’s Messages” on www.matthewbooks.com explains the plan.] Nevertheless, all of the forward movement is operating in your concept of time, and in this respect, your every thought, feeling and action is creating not only your personal lives, but collectively are the stepping stones to Earth’s “future” world. All those steps are being taken at one pace or another, and holding your light steady in trust and patience as events unfold within the new US administration will heighten the collective consciousness. The higher the collective consciousness of a peoples, the higher the vibrations they radiate and attract in kind, all the while assisting Earth’s ascension into the increasingly higher frequencies that you perceive as time passing faster and faster.

Mother, I thank you for receiving and distributing my message today, prior to the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow. And now, with the unconditional love of all souls at this station, who are sharing Earth’s joyousness, this is Matthew bidding you farewell for a short while.

____________________________

January 20, 2009

Because of technical difficulties incurred by my mother’s service provider, she was unable to distribute my foregoing message at the intended time. I believe the difficulties were providential, as now I can speak in a timely manner about President Barack Obama’s stirring address to his nation, indeed to your world. It is not his eloquence to which I refer, but his forthrightness and honesty and wisdom, his determination to unify what has been divided, to mend what has been in tatters, to strengthen what has been weak and to heal broken spirits. The energy of this day, energy that opened wide the portals of change based in love and enlightenment, reached heights not felt on Earth since the finest hours of Atlantis and Lemuria.

Now I shall continue with other truths and perspectives we at this station wish to share with you. Abundance is the God-given right of souls, and joyful living circumstances for every person on the planet is part of the master plan that includes the election of Obama. From a purely “3D” perspective, his administration is facing one of the gravest situations the world has ever encountered. And indeed, it is a huge mess that must be cleaned up! However, what we see from our vantage point is that Earth is far healthier today than she has been for millennia, and due to the massive infusion of off-planet light that guided individuals into generating their own light, the turn-around in Earth’s condition has happened with speed that is unprecedented in the universe. Again, this is all according to the master plan, and every soul on the planet is participating one way or another.

By using the global economy to demonstrate the importance each of you has in the ongoing transformational process, I shall be answering many readers’ questions. The population as a whole is seeing the economic situation as it is reported by mainstream media, with unemployment, retail sales and real estate statistics along with various analysts’ forecasts. Therefore, in the collective consciousness the situation appears dire—by some estimates, the spiraling downward will continue for as long as two years and the overall impact will be felt with leveling out stages over the next ten or twenty years. The analysts are calculating in accordance with economic history and they see the resolution as combined government and corporate efforts to return to what they consider the soundness of the global system that existed prior to the meltdown.

You know better! You know the economic system is collapsing to end the Illuminati’s long stranglehold on all aspects of commerce, taxation, investments, and such, and that a new foundation based in light is rising out of those ashes. You know that the increasing light in your world is propelling Earth to her fifth density destination; you know about the universal law of attraction and the advent of on-planet assistance from the same advanced civilizations that have been helping from afar for sixty-some years. By living in consonance with this awareness, the light in your optimism and trust has raised the vibrations within the collective conscious—your contribution has been phenomenal!

We want to clarify some misunderstandings prevailing even among the most faithfully dedicated lightworkers about the economic reforms underway. Some persons still do not know the magnitude of what is commonly known as NESARA. In previous messages I have recommended reading the explanatory messages about the true NESARA, but we understand your time constraints and I have been requested to summarize that material [Special NESARA Edition in “Matthew’s Messages” below September 11, 2006 message on www.matthewbooks.com]. Most succinctly stated, NESARA is that master plan for manifesting spiritual renewal and world transformation.

It had to begin with the thought becoming known on Earth so it could enter the collective consciousness, and it was presented in the form of legislation in the United States because that country is perceived by your world as the strongest. No legislation can state anything about a plan devised in the continuum jointly by light beings in spirit and those in advanced civilizations. It cannot state that there is nothing “federal” at all about the Federal Reserve System, that it is a grand deception designed by the Illuminati who own this private banking consortium, or that partially through that means, they manipulate the global economy; or that through the Fed’s agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the Illuminati garner the billions of dollars paid annually by US income taxes; or that ridding Earth of Illuminati economic control will be accomplished by the growing intensity of light. No, the National Economic Security and Reformation Act could be worded only according to what was acceptable to the US administration and within the normal parameters of legislation.

Of course, that government never intended to enact it anyway. Massive corruption within national and global political and legal channels prevented enactment and the dissemination of disinformation added confusion and disbelief to NESARA’s energy pool. Regardless, because its monumental goals are literally “in the heavens” and already manifested in the universal continuum, the plan’s down-to-Earth progress continued in other directions to accomplish the very same goals.

Now then, among the believers are those who expect NESARA to begin with its announcement on television and followed with the delivery of enormous sums of money to specific individuals and “debt forgiveness.” There will be no TV announcement, no such deliveries, and no automatic elimination of all debts. The actuality is that light forces on, off and within the planet have been working for more than six decades toward achieving all of NESARA’s goals, and one goal is fair distribution of the grand abundance of your world’s resources. The key word is FAIR. Would it be fair to eliminate a ten million dollar mortgage on an estate or yacht purchased with laundered drug money? Or a hundred million dollar mortgage on a building acquired by someone whose money came by defrauding investors or deliberately putting small companies out of business? Would it be fair to eradicate a $25,000 credit card debt incurred by someone who replaced last year’s model of an expensive car with the latest model? Choices like that, like all other free will choices, are the responsibilities of the individuals.

What NESARA will do is eliminate the unconscionable disparity between the billionaires and the impoverished billions of people. This will be a process of examination, calculation and reallocation of funds derived through exploitation of entire nations’ resources. You need to understand this so your thoughts and feelings about the resolution to the current economic status can be made in the fullness of NESARA’s profound reforms that extend to every hamlet and city in every country where God-given human rights and the rights of Earth herself have been trampled by the darkness that destroyed the conscience in some souls.

Let me speak now about the many aspects of what has been transpiring in Gaza. Even though your media have reported the grossly disproportionate Israeli retaliation for the missiles directed by Hamas into areas of Israel, Palestinian casualties are much higher than announced. As in any conflict, there are outspoken proponents and opponents of both sides: Israel’s right to defend its borders from the declared aim of Hamas to destroy its neighbor, and the Palestinians’ right to end the oppression that began with the formation of Israel.

It is not publicized that behind this conflict are the Zionists, one of many groups and organizations operating within the Illuminati forces, and their intention is to keep bloodshed, fear, hatred, retaliation, destruction and oppression active in that part of the Middle East. Zionists, who may be of Jewish or any other ethnicity, hold powerful government, military, banking, corporate, religious, media and educational positions around the world; and through coercion, bribery or blackmail get underlings to carry out their despicable schemes. The Zionist movement does not represent the Israeli peoples or Jews anywhere in the world, nevertheless it hides behind the façade of anti-Semitism. The same kinds of dark minds that initiated World War II and funded both the Allies and the Axis also formed the plan to create a new homeland for Jews liberated from Nazi concentration camps by displacing the established Palestinian population. And for the past sixty years, those kinds of minds have created foment through well-placed agitators and strategic incidents to create radical elements on both sides that are more willing to fight to the death than to seek the peace and harmony deeply desired by both peoples.

Not all who have been killed or wounded in the savage assault in Gaza agreed to experience everything that has been transpiring throughout the past years. For many, the trauma far exceeded their contracts, and in those cases, by divine grace they transitioned from physical to spirit life much sooner than their contracts’ longevity clauses, yet with credits for contract mission fulfillment. In this unique era on Earth, divine grace is working two ways—it is ending unchosen suffering of individuals and transmuting the negativity of their pain and torment into light instead of what happened for eons, adding more negativity for Earth to absorb.

Still another facet of the carnage in Gaza is the effect of the higher frequencies that magnifies all human characteristics, and the capacity for hatred, belligerence and desire for revenge has reached its peak. The balance to that intensity is the surge in light-filled characteristics such as empathy, compassion and determined efforts toward peace.

Underlying all of the death, destruction and tyranny in the Middle East is the extremely heavy karma being played out. Long before your recorded history, the inhabitants of those lands battled savagely for supremacy, and ancient blood permeated the earth. The resultant negativity had to be released in massive degree so Earth could move out of deep third density, and souls who lived in those early civilizations have returned time and again with the chosen mission to reduce the accumulated negativity. The inhabitants of those lands today came in for the same purpose, but this time, they are here to complete the release and achieve karmic balance as individuals and for Earth.

We know that overview seems dispassionate in light of the extensive pain in Gaza, just as in Iraq and Darfur and all other places on Earth where darkness still has a toehold. Even though we know that the individual and area-wide karmic balancing taking place is essential and we know that the souls who participated in accordance with original or amended contracts have achieved leaps in spiritual growth, we weep for those who are living in the midst of trauma because they are not aware of their loved ones’ magnificent accomplishments or their very own. The balance to our deep sadness for them is our joy in the assurance that one day they will know what we do, whether they are in spirit lifetimes or in Earth’s Golden Age that they helped to manifest.

This is an appropriate place to answer the reader who asked, “When will nations’ full karmic debt be repaid?” Only souls incur karma. Souls often choose to incarnate in areas where they spent other lifetimes and made choices that were destructive to themselves and others, and due to the eons of influence by the dark forces, souls may have embodied in the same general area hundreds or more times to balance previous experiencing, but instead only repeated it. So in that respect, it can be considered that the “nation” incurs karma even though today’s national boundaries are so very different from the empires in ancient times, when souls’ choices began piling up “negative” karma. Nations in the area now called the Middle East and in Africa are areas heavily affected by souls’ repetition, thus it takes longer to release the negativity from those lands and transmute it into light. Earth’s karma is comprised of the countless souls that have inhabited the planet since the first civilizations in antiquity, and her balance is being restored by increasing numbers of souls becoming enlightened throughout your world.

Another reader asked if the same two souls always work out their karmic connections as long as it takes to attain balance. While souls may choose to do that, it is not necessary, especially not during this period where every aspect of life in your world is in acceleration; and because unconditional love is the basis of all pre-birth agreements, souls are eagerly helping the souls who most need a lift to evolve. My family is an example. My mother and father had experienced many very satisfying lifetimes in a number of relationship roles that strengthened them spiritually, and in an agreement with many other souls, they took on the heavier karmic experiences needed by the weaker ones in a soul cluster. Thus my parents’ union was marked by unresolved conflict and trauma that they could handle but the weaker souls could not; that enabled the weaker ones to choose less difficult emotional karmic connections that they could bring into balance and strengthen the soul cluster. Although my three siblings and I were not part of that agreement, the dissension between our parents provided the ideal environment each of us needed to flourish in ways we required for balance.

A large scale example of souls helping souls is what you call “walk-ins,” which are far more prevalent than at any other period on the planet. The original souls that inhabit the bodies fulfill their contracts that call for turmoil or illness or severe deprivation, and the souls who agree to enter the bodies infuse them with light and the will to overcome the difficult conditions and proceed to accomplish their reasons for wanting to embody. The advantage to the latter souls is that in many cases, they enter adult bodies with academic and experiential learning, a running start so to say for succeeding in their chosen ways to help manifest the Golden Age.

“What is the risk of being a ‘Wanderer/Star Seed’ incarnating here at this time? What is the worst that can happen if the Wanderer from higher density fails to ‘wake up’ before 2012? Will such a being be trapped in 3rd density because of this?”

First, there does not appear to be a consensus on Earth as to what constitutes a “starseed.” From our perspective, every soul in this universe is a “starseed,” but I shall reply to the questions as if these are exceptional beings who came from advanced civilizations to take on a more complex or more arduous mission than the majority of the populace. Because the planet has greatly more light than say, ten years ago or even five, there is much less risk now than previously of such beings becoming trapped in third density. The worst that can happen is that “trapped” individuals succumb to the frailties of unfamiliarly dense bodies; they may retain inklings of some special purpose for the lifetime, resonate with truthful information and feel attuned to universal laws, but due to dense bodies’ limited brain functioning, the rest is forgotten or distorted and the lifetime may be a series of frustrations instead of achievements that lighten hearts and minds. There is no penalty—that is, no incurrence of karma to balance—but at soul level there is disappointment along with understanding and compassion for the personage whose experience on Earth does not happen as intended.

The question, “Does each planet have its own station?” prompts me to be more mindful about terms that may need to be more clearly defined. “Station” as we use it is not related to any specific “place” or civilization, but rather is the level of spiritual growth a soul has attained regardless of its universal origin and number of experiencing lifetimes. When I speak of “souls at this station,” I refer to a peer group whose spiritual clarity has evolved into attunement with the unconditional love and awareness of the Oneness of All. This could be called “group mind” or “collective souls” because of the shared enlightenment, but in a larger sense, it is a melding of innumerable personage soul-selves into one “higher soul.” I hope that gives a clearer understanding of “station,” but I need to say as well that there is no way to accurately describe a state of being that only life in form or in spirit in higher densities has the capacity for comprehension.

Moving on to diverse topics of interest, the plane that made a forced landing in New York’s Hudson River was much more than the capability of the captain — with all due respect for his capability, he had a host of heavenly helpers because no person in that plane had a contract that “was up.” The plane was sabotaged, and those responsible cannot understand why their diabolical plan failed just as it did when the intent was to assassinate Obama in a plane crash. They cannot even imagine his protection within the impermeable grid of the light of Christ consciousness just as they cannot accept that the long reign of darkness is over.

This time the sabotage was multi-purposed: kill the passengers they wanted to eliminate; cause many deaths and great property destruction when the plane crashed as anticipated on terra firma in the same city where two planes destroyed the twin towers; create a logical atmosphere for refreshing the fear after “9/11”; claim a terrorist caused the crash and cast doubts on Obama’s ability to protect the United States from terrorism and thereby turn optimism to negativity. What the Illuminati lack in conscience, they make up for in intelligence, however lacking in prudence and wisdom; and it is now strikingly clear to those who thought it was their efforts that took your new president from a junior senator to the White House, that he has a vision for the nation and world that is diametrically opposed to their own.

We cannot give a specific time when the truth about “9/11” will come forth publicly, but we assure you, it will. Part of Earth’s cleansing is truth replacing lies in every nook and cranny of the former strongholds of the darkness.

We understand that it is difficult to reconcile unusually low temperatures, heavy snowfalls, flooding, melting glaciers and wind storms with what we have told you, that eventually there will be a moderate climate globally and all lands will be habitable. The harsh conditions are part of Earth’s balancing through planetary cleansing and the restoration of her health as a body, a return to her original Eden self; and almost all who are dealing with weather-related destruction and other hardships chose these kinds of experiences to bring balance to other lifetimes.

The increasing sightings of spacecraft are a preface to the appearance of such a large fleet that their presence no longer can be denied by those governments that have long ignored, ridiculed via “entertainment” or concocted foolish stories to prove that UFOs and ETs don’t exist. The little grays living underground will not emerge en masse—the time has long since passed when the Illuminati could have managed that, and the same is so regarding a holographic representation of an invading force descending from the skies.

Now, in the same spirit of exultation and brilliant light of hope that is pervasive in your world, we bid you farewell even as we lovingly accompany you every moment along your pathway.

NOTE:Read the story behind Suzanne Ward and how and why she began writing the Matthew Books in the late 1990s. It's an incredible tale but I happen to be a friend of both Suzy Ward and her brilliant son Matthew, who maintains I'm a colleague whom he once rescued from a particularly dangerous situation (though he was too coy to elaborate further :-)! In any case, having read Matthew's messages over the past seven years or so, I have found them invariably helpful, lucid, totally balanced and absolutely reassuring - especially when things get overly murky on the political plane.

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.